Real estate prices in Saudi Arabia rose marginally by 0.5 percent in the final quarter of 2019, marking the first positive growth since early 2015.
According to a new research note from Jadwa Investment, property prices in the Gulf kingdom also rose by 0.9 percent quarter-on-quarter in Q4 2019.
Jadwa Investment said the local economy ended the year on a positive trend.
While point of sale transactions rose notably by an average of 23 percent in full year 2019, the non-oil PMI index averaged at 57.1 in 2019, the highest annual average since 2015.
Total bank claims rose by 10 percent in December year-on-year. Claims on the public sector were up by 24 percent, meanwhile, credit to the private sector rose by 7 percent, year-on-year, the highest rise since August 2016.
Prices rose in December by 0.2 percent year-on-year, for the first time in 2019 while the full year inflation rate for 2019 stood at –1.2 percent, matching Jadwa's forecast. In 2020, Jadwa said it expects the inflation rate to average 1.7 percent.
Jadwa's research note also said that recent data from the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Heritage (SCTH) showed tourism spending and the number of tourism trips for inbound and domestic tourism were all up in 2019, while outbound tourism spending and the number of outbound trips declined in 2019.
